Tumulus (France and Brittany)

Fieldnotes

14:08:03ce

This Kercado sized tumulus outside the village of Le Bono is fascinating for a number of reasons. The great mound itself covers a very long passage of orthostats and drystone which bends through almost 90degrees partway along. This then opens out into a chamber with almost enough room to stand. The faint remains of carvings can be seen along the passage including a goddess figurine. This chamber, if required, could be pitch black at any time of day.
Inspite of the condensation on the stones themselves the floor in here is remarkably dry.
What is also fascinating though is the surroundings. Around the tumulus are a number of burial mounds dated to the Iron Age. However they are very much like megalithic structures, one still having, what Aubrey Burl describes as, a small dolmen like structure at its centre. South of the tumulus are a number of fantastic natural rock outcrops, maybe part shaped by man.
Clearly this area was sacred for a long time. From the time before the megaliths to a time when they had long since ceased to be constructed. Were the pine trees not here there would be views out to the Gulf of Morbihan. But how did that area look back then when sea levels meant it was no sea at all…